Pirate's Manifesto VII
- Released 7 July 1994 -
TODAYS TOPIC :
The first Canadian PIRATE sysop to ever be charged
with Copyright Infringement !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
PRELUDE :
Well this is certainly news worthy. Many folks would assume that
surely somewhere, someplace in that great country to the North that
we call Canada, that someone would have been busted long before now
for software piracy. But this is truly the first sysop ever charged
for software piracy.
I was going to save Pirate's Manifesto VI for another topic when this
fell into my lap and I figured that it needed maximum spreading to all
the educated and intelligent folks who have been reading these little
diatribes of elite information. Here is why this is so interesting :
All previous bust in Canada were always targeted against porno type
bulletin boards ( which sometimes happened to have some copyrighted
files on their system ). The only other strictly copyright related
bust I can recall was when Montreal's North 90 was raided several
years ago and the charges were dropped for lack of evidence because
the police officers forgot to take the bulletin boards 'servers' for
evidence ( Doh ! They were kept in another room and the cops only
took the terminals with the modems - double Doh! )
But the funny thing about this historical event is - " Who the hell
was the 'Shadow' BBS and exactly how lame was it to not come to my
attention long before now ? Hey I am the worlds most elite pirate
right. So how come I never heard of this dump in the 604 phone
exchange. How come none of the truly world class bulletin boards
in the 604 exchange were not busted ? These are questions that
always bother me when I read news reports of bust in an area code.
But enough of my shit. Let us get on with reading this article and
see what happened to this poor dumb shit whose board was infiltrated
by snoops and spies from CAAST and the RCMP - triple DOH!
ARTICLE BEGINS :
TITLE : Bulletin Board Sysop Charged with Software Theft
MAGAZINE : Computing Canada
ISSUE : Volume 20 Number 14
DATE OF ISSUE : July 6 1994
AUTHOR : Monta Kerr
The system operator of a Vancouver-based electronic bulletin board
system (BBS) has been charged with illegally copying software.
Lee Thomas Adams of Burnaby, British Columbia, operated an alleged
pirate BBS known as Shadow. He was charged with 16 counts of copy
right infringement after a several-month-long investigation by the
Royal Canadian Mounted Police, assisted by the Canadian Alliance
Against Software Theft (CAAST), in Vancouver.
Adams is charged with copying software products from Borland Intl,
Symantec Corp, IBM Corp, Lotus Developement Corp and WordPerfect.
At press time, Stephen DeWitt, general manager of Toronto based
Symantec Canada, said the vendors had not yet decided if they
would go ahead with a criminal prosecution or settle out of court.
"Our goal is not necessarily to bring down the heavy hand of the
law" he said.
"But certainly if people are breaking the law..., we're certainly
going to take a pretty agressive stance as far as that's concerned".
The Canadian subsidiaries of Symantec, Lotus and Word Perfect are
all members of CAAST, an organization working to prevent the
unauthorized copying of software. CAAST reports that software
pirates cost the industry about $ 12.8 billion (US) every year.
DeWitt said piracy can have a greater effect on Canadian subsidiaries
than on their US parents. "Certainly Symantec as an organization is
trying to provide services and products that are appropriate to the
Canadian marketplace" he said, adding that Symantec Canada loses an
estimated $1 million per year because of software theft.
The loss of revenues as a result of piracy... impedes our ability
to structure our organization in a way to better support Canadian
customers.
He said "underground" BBS's, distributing unauthorized copies of
software, are not the only offenders. Some corporate users, home
users and resellers also commit software theft, many without even
realizing it is a crime.
CAAST accepts reports of or questions about piracy through its
Anti-Piracy Hotline at 1-800-263-9700
OBSERVATIONS :
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Well this unknown dude certainly was an unlucky shit having those scum
known as spies skulking about on his bulletin board for 'a couple of
months' I would assume at this point all the kewl boards in the
604 phone exchange are shitting their pants wondering which of them
is going to be next. After all, the snoops weren't just on that one
bulletin board looking for the products represented by that lame ass
organization calls CAAST. Those snoops would have been looking for
other leads to follow up on in their quest for busting 'dem low down
pirates'. So I guess dumb ol' CAAST won't be stopping there and we
can expect to hear them gloat more and more about their successes at
gaining access to pirate bulletin boards - followed by the raids of
their enforcers - better known as the RCMP.
So who are these snoops that spend time infiltrating bulletin boards
trying to find evidence to support a search warrant. Well if you
were a regular reader of Pirates Manifesto, issue 1, you would know
that these flunkies are none other than Pinkerton's and Wakenhuts
Security. Yes, none other than those 'cheaper by a dozen' rental
goofs. You may recall that we warned the world of the deal worked
out by CAAST in Canada, SPA in the United States, and FAST in the UK,
to employ the services of Pinkerton's and Wackenhut to infiltrate and
bust pirate bulletin boards.
Enough of our gloating. Just be warned that Pinkertons and Wackenhuts
are the new investigative arm of those three anti-piracy organizations.
CONCLUSIONS :
Let me conclude with the following observations that might come as a
shock to some sysops out there who in sheer ignorance of the law think
that if they put some kind of anti-entrapment statement on the front of
their BBS they that will not be charged. WRONG. In fact that very anti-
entrapment screen on the front of your BBS might be the most valuable
hint you are giving to the spies that yours is a BBS that is hiding
something. But if you don't believe me... that is kewl. You will
find out later just how useless that anti-entrapment screen was when
your time to go to court comes up. That anti-entrapment screen is
about as stupid as holding a cross in front of yourself to ward off
vampires. Get real and ditch it. It stands out like a phucking
neon light flashing in the dark " Bust me... bust me... bust me..."
Now what about those dumbo's who think that using the 'software library'
scam is going to help them beat a copyright infringement charge. WRONG.
That scam is just about as dumb as my previous example. The courts will
simply laugh in your face and spit in your eye as they seize all your
assets. Think about it for a moment - what does a PUBLIC library have
to do with a PRIVATE bulletin board. Get the hint - PUBLIC - PRIVATE.
That is the significant difference between a library and a pirate BBS
and that is what the court will rule when they convict you of running
a PIRATE bulletin board and not a PUBLIC SOFTWARE LIBRARY - quad DOH!
LAST BUT NOT LEAST... AND MOST NASTY !!!
Lastly, let us say a few words about the DORKS who have been compiling
huge phone list of all the pirate bulletin boards in an Area Code and
then sending them out onto the bulletin boards. Congratulations you
fucking two bit losers. In your attempt to be 'kewl' you have handed
the police, Pinkerton's, Wackenhut, the RCMP, the Secret Service, Bell,
and every anti-pirate asshole the phone numbers and rankings of the
elite bulletin boards. Think what you have done you dick brains.
Who the phucks payroll are these dickwads on. Are they really so fucking
mindless as to not think the cops and good guys were not going to get
their hands on those phone list. Phuuuuckkk you guys must have the
combined IQ's of a snail.
Permit me to suggest that a FIREBOMB be gently hurled through the phucking
windows of those dickwads who released that LEGENDS.ONT and named off all
the 416 and 905 bulletin boards. You dick wads really did a great favour
by giving their phone numbers to every dickwad who read your shitty little
grab for fame. Maybe your next grab for fame will be as a headline in
the newspaper as the largest house fire this century. Assholes.
Please use what phucking little brains you have next time before you
attempt to be kewl by exposing all the 416 and 905 bulletin boards to
the cops. DUMB DUMB DUMB DUMB DUMB DUMB DUMB !!!
For those who are not familiar with what i am bitching about, let me
just show you the final comments these dickwads placed on their telephone
directory of every bulletin board in the 416 and 905 : And I quote :
(( Yes they listed over 350 phone numbers and ratings of boards in
the 416 and 905 - but at least we are not as stupid as them to
repeat that complete list and all those vulnerable phone numbers ))
-------------- TEXT TAKEN FROM LEGENDS.ONT -- DATED 7-6-94 ----------
TOTAL ISSUE: 350 BBS ENTRIES!
In the 416/905 Area Code 30-40 New Pirate Boards
go up every month. In-order to keep the Underground
informed of new systems, this publication will provide
new system information every month. The 416/905 area code is
larger than the 718 and 210 Area Codes, which originated
the Pirate Scene. This FILE will be spread throughout
Underground Systems and will attract quality users for
the systems above. Any comments/Board Additions/Board
Removals/BBS INFO can be left to us in the BBS Adds
Echo, of NAPE_NET, OOF_NET, WOA_NET, RAD_NET, CAN/AM_NET
INTERPOOL_NET, PHELONY_NET, VALIANT_NET, SYN_NET, INFI_NET
Remember we're watching
According to your comments, we appreciate the current
support. We're sorry that we didn't get all the boards
out there, and thanxs to you callers we've been able to
include many more systems. And to those that told us
their systems should be up in the MAJOR PIRATE SITES,
the selection is based on User Voting/Comments on Several
Local Boards.
Its June now, 6 months in the Running, and we're
going strong!
Special Thanxs to The Software Polluter, and Leoman
for their numerous additions to this month's issue.
!LEGENDS! ___
| _/|\ /|
Thx FLiGHT Fer Couriering! Think You Could Fly?? |+ - |_\ || FLiGHT!
-------------------- END OF THEIR PHUCKING LAME TEXT --------------
Kindly kill these dumb fuckers if you find them and nuke them off
any bulletin board they might surface on !!!
Yours truly
- TC -
( you know i never give away my handle in these things )
Feel free to reach me on Mirage if you can get on there... I live
to get your feedback and see these things published in the disk mags.